WP1: Rough Draft

During the early twentieth century, the United States opened its arms to immigrants from all over the world. Two major groups that were a part of this movement to the United States were emigrants from Italy and those from Poland. These groups were moving to America for similar reasons. The promise of a better life in America convinced many Europeans to emigrate from their dismal situations in their home countries. After the reunification of Italy, the country was still left in poverty and opposing groups spread violence throughout the cities. Italians from all regions of Italy left the country with hopes for establishing a better life. Similarly, the people of Poland suffered from economic hardship, but they also suffered politically from the Soviet and German invasions. Again, America’s promise for a better life rang in the ears of the battered Polish.

Upon arriving in the United States, immigrants were quick to set up their place in the country, especially in the east coast. Neighborhoods became known as “Little Italy” or “Little Poland” and such. Many immigrants worked as laborers in whatever job force they could find, or set up shops in big cities like New York and other coastal cities. Along with setting up their economic role in society, the Italians and Polish also wanted to establish a cultural role in the United States; in a sense becoming American while still retaining their heritage and customs. The most important group that was affected by this was the children who were very young when they came to the United States or who were born in the U.S. The children had to find a way to balance their inherited culture with the one that was presented to them in their daily lives. Most children attended American schools and learned English from an early age but spoke their mother language at home. Groups of differing ethnicities and backgrounds often were also intermingled in the cities and towns and also in the schools because they were all learning English and how to live in America at the same time.

One photographer, Fenno Jacobs, captured these aspects of immigrant life in America in the photo “Beecher Street School, whose student body consists of half Americans of Italian descent and half of Americans of Polish descent, Southington Connecticut. The Queen of the May was Emily Schwak, of Polish extraction; the King, Philip D’Agostino, of Italian.” The photo was taken in May of 1942, a time of great importance to the United States as a country and of a great deal of immigration to the country. The U.S. had been directly involved in World War II for a little over half a year after declaring war on Japan. (Citation) Poor conditions in European countries caused people to emigrate from their homeland to the United States, such as the Polish and Italians. The photo shows Italian and Polish students at a May Day festival. Some are holding signs that are of importance to the argument of the photograph, and the girl in the center is dressed in a highly patriotic outfit, also of high importance. The photo demonstrates the assimilation of immigrant children into American culture in the 1940s and the prospect of a promising future in the United States. The photo uses pathos through logos in order to depict this. This is observed in the technical aspects of focus and framing of the girl in the center, the aspects of coloration of brightness and saturation, and through vectors of attention.

Upon looking at the photo, the first figure that is the most and first noticeable is the girl in the center. This is due to the focus and framing of the photograph. The girl is the most sharply detailed and focused on and is also in the center of the scene as framed by the edges of the photo. The other students in the background are more blurry and there is no one else who is centrally focused on. Her presence in the foreground, in the otherwise empty space of gravel, also brings the first attention directly to her. The most important aspect of her being the focus of the photo is the outfit that she is wearing. Everything is colored with blue, red, and white which are the well-known colors that together represent patriotism in America. As given by the photo title, one knows that she is not simply of American citizenship; she is of either Italian or Polish descent. These colors stir an automatic emotion in the hearts of most Americans because of their inherent meaning of pride and prosperity. This is an appeal to pathos in people who have been conditioned to feel this way. It is significant that a girl who is of foreign descent is now taking on these same emotions and meanings of these colors because it shows that she is becoming a part of the American culture that she is being raised in.

A second noticeable characteristic of the photograph is the aspect of coloration. Overall, there are a broad range of hues in the photo in the children’s clothing, the signs, and the sky and ground. Many of these hues are also bright. These are the ones that stand out the most in contrast to the ones next to them such as the reds, whites, and blues that are, again, the patriotic colors of the U.S. These are present in the outfit of not only the girl in the foreground as previously mentioned, but also in the clothing of some of the other children. Also, the colors of the signs that bring attention to them are also fairly bright. These contrast to the darker shadows of the photograph around the areas of the children’s feet and the upper right-hand corner that has trees in the background. The most important aspect of the coloration is the saturation of certain colors that brings direct attention to them. This is most obvious in the signs that the girls are holding. One of the signs is for ‘breakfast’ and ‘lunch’ and is possibly and advertisement for something the school has. Even more so, the sign that is advertising Victory Gardens is the most noticeable due to the high saturation and brightness of the blues and yellows in the sign. This is significant due to the meaning of the sign. During WWII, the United States’ government asked its citizens to help the country out by growing Victory Gardens. The food from these gardens fed the communities so that the government could ration more food for the soldiers that were fighting overseas. These students, who are again of Italian or Polish descent, are holding up signs to advocate a very patriotic message, and this is a sign of their assimilation into the American culture.

Thirdly, the vectors of attention of the photograph also appeal to pathos in the form of creating a sense of excitement and anticipation. All of the students in the photograph are facing towards the left of the frame of the photo and by the description given in the title one knows that they are attending a celebration of the May Day crowning and their attention is on whatever part of that celebration is occurring at the moment. This brings about a feeling of excitement, which is also brought about by the combination of the aforementioned coloration and framing. The colors are all bright and stir not only feelings of patriotism but of the excitement of a new spring day. Also, the framing of the photograph does not capture all of the people in the crowd and so the observer is left to assume whether or not there is a large group of people. In large crowds who are all waiting for something to happen, there is often a feeling of excitement and anticipation. This can be taken as a way to look at how the country was feeling at a time of war-that they were optimistic about where it was going because of the Victory Garden signs-and the way that immigrant men, women, and especially children, were feeling about their new life in the United States.